I think that all four girls will have a good shot at the title and medals.

I think that one area that Lipnitskaia has the advantage is consistency and spins. Her spins get her tons of GOE, as they should. Gracie has good jumps, but I think that overall, the Russian girls are better in the PCS department. Gracie's programs are rather empty and her posture is not great. Julia is extremely polished and is emoting better; Adelina has fabulous SS and good musicality and LIza is a great performer. I also think that the Russians have a bit more in transitions. Also, the Russians have more international experience on their side. Gracie has the highest base value in the SP, though (in terms of jumps). In the LP, I think it all evens out.\

I think that all four girls will have a good shot at the title and medals.

I think that one area that Lipnitskaia has the advantage is consistency and spins. Her spins get her tons of GOE, as they should. Gracie has good jumps, but I think that overall, the Russian girls are better in the PCS department. Gracie's programs are rather empty and her posture is not great. Julia is extremely polished and is emoting better; Adelina has fabulous SS and good musicality and LIza is a great performer. I also think that the Russians have a bit more in transitions. Also, the Russians have more international experience on their side. Gracie has the highest base value in the SP, though (in terms of jumps). In the LP, I think it all evens out.\

I think whoever skates cleanest will win.

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Good post. Out of all the skaters expected to compete at JW, I think Lipnitskaia is the strongest overall skater for the reasons you stated.

Gracie Gold is a star, she gets a new thread on the trash can every other day, something even Mao and Yuna could not do.

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I wouldn't say "star" yet. As of now, she's won a handful of low level events against much less talented opponents. She'll officially become a "star" if she can manage to "CRUSH" the Russians and actually win that junior world title in a few weeks.

Personally, I think she's a good jumper but I'm not nearly as impressed as some people seem to be. Russia's top 5 or 6 ladies are all strong jumpers (Sotnikova, Tuktamysheva, Lipnitskaia, Korobeynikova, Leonova, etc.)...Zijun Li of China is a great jumper...Christina Gao and Agnes Zawadski are great jumpers...it takes more than big and difficult jumps to pull me onto the hype train and as of now, Gracie's a good jumper with decent speed...that's it. Her spins are mediocre, her extension and line need lots of work, her interpretation and presentation are juniorish...she has a lot of work to do in order to be considered a "star" IMO.

Potential star? Absolutely...but she's not there yet. As of now, she's an uber-hyped potential star.

I wouldn't say "star" yet. As of now, she's won a handful of low level events against much less talented opponents. She'll officially become a "star" if she can manage to "CRUSH" the Russians and actually win that junior world title in a few weeks.

Personally, I think she's a good jumper but I'm not nearly as impressed as some people seem to be. Russia's top 5 or 6 ladies are all strong jumpers (Sotnikova, Tuktamysheva, Lipnitskaia, Korobeynikova, Leonova, etc.)...Zijun Li of China is a great jumper...Christina Gao and Agnes Zawadski are great jumpers...it takes more than big and difficult jumps to pull me onto the hype train and as of now, Gracie's a good jumper with decent speed...that's it. Her spins are mediocre, her extension and line need lots of work, her interpretation and presentation are juniorish...she has a lot of work to do in order to be considered a "star" IMO.

Potential star? Absolutely...but she's not there yet. As of now, she's an uber-hyped potential star.

Did we really need this poll? Haven't we beaten this horse to death in another thread with a silly title?

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In the coming days we will see many more topics about Gracie, no matter what the result are at the Jr Worlds, like whether Gracie will have a triple axel next year, will she so her 3-3-3 in the LP. If she wins the Jr Worlds, there will many more polls on her winning senior world and Olympics. If she losses then whether she needs a coaching change, a change in sports psychiatrist, to change in choreographer, to how she remind someone of Kwan, etc, etc. So this is just the beginning, we are bound to see more post on Gracie Gold soon.

Between I am excited to see her jumps and how she develops. However, the hype is very high both from her team and others. i remember the Eurosport guy talking about Gracie at Cup or Russia, this was after the disastrous skate by Gao i believe.. at that point she hadn't even won Jr US title and had only one international competition under her belt. So hype is unparalleled to anything we have seen in recent past, including the Russian Wonder babies.